


My Desire

by sultrysweet_tumblr (sultrysweet)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), True Blood
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairing, F/F, Pam/Regina, Smut, Vampire Queen - Freeform, Vampire!Regina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-20 12:15:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4786895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sultrysweet/pseuds/sultrysweet_tumblr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina’s still a novice when it comes to her magic, but in her eagerness to learn control she ends up in a very different place from the Enchanted Forest. Without a clue as to where or when she is, she runs into someone who’s intentions are unknown and yet she can’t stay away despite warning bells ringing loudly in her head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LiveLoveLikeMe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLoveLikeMe/gifts), [october_lady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/october_lady/gifts).



> I'm not a True Blood fan, but I'm definitely a Pam fan. I've only seen the first season and that was about 4 years ago so I'm sorry if I'm not completely accurate.

She knew exactly what her mother would say, knew what Rumpelstiltskin would say, if they ever found out what she’d done. She looked around the foreign place and took in the lack of dirt roads and carriages and the abundance of odd looking lights over the roads, which were as solid as stone. She clutched at her dress out of nervous habit as she slowly spun around and stared at many things she didn’t understand or recognize. She wasn’t sure where or when she was, but she did know what had caused the unexpected travel to such a strange land.

She wasn’t sure what went wrong, of course, but she’d been practicing—alone—and when she’d finished the spell she was whisked away in a plume of smoke. And then she was…wherever she was.

“It’s dangerous to be out so late,” she suddenly heard from behind her and jumped in response.

She turned to face whoever was there with her and stared with wide eyes at a shadowed figure that remained hidden beside what looked like a tavern. There was a light above the establishment, but whoever was there stayed a few paces behind the portion of the road it lit up. She was sure that was intentional and she could understand the desire for anonymity, but it still gave her chills to be on a quiet road with someone who didn’t want to be seen.

“Y-yes,” she shakily replied and took a step back as she bowed her head, not sure what else to do but be as respectful as possible even as she tried to slowly retreat. “I’m sorry. I was…I was just on my way.”

She started to turn around and walk in any direction that didn’t force her to meet the mystery person shrouded in darkness, but she was halted. Not by magic, but by that voice. That stranger.

“Stop,” came the command, and for the first time she realized there was something about that voice. Yes, it was feminine so she was likely talking to another woman, but there was something else. A twang. “Turn around.”

Whoever the other woman was, she spoke slowly and with an accent Regina didn’t recognize. Everything in that land was far from anything she was used to in the Enchanted Forest. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

Hesitantly, she followed orders and turned to face the figure again. That time she was surprised to watch as the woman took small and deliberate steps toward her and into the light. After a moment, she was able to see long, blonde hair and piercing eyes. Her skin was a little on the pale side, but her lips were plump and red. She wore tight fitting clothes and her gaze was focused, sharp. Her eyes were highlighted by heavily but not unattractively applied eyeliner and as she stared at the woman, all the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up in warning. She felt a shiver run down her spine and she felt a familiar sense of fear overwhelm her. It was the same as when she knew her mother was about to use magic on her. It was the same as when Rumpel wasn’t pleased with her progress, or lack of it in most cases, and while she didn’t know what would happen next, she knew without a doubt she was in trouble.

“Who are you,” the woman asked, her voice low and throaty like wooden carriage wheels riding over gravel.

She gulped and licked her lips as she clenched and unclenched her fists in her dress then answered, “Regina.”

The woman rolled her eyes and said, “That’s your name, sugar. That doesn’t tell me who you are.”

“I- I don’t…” she trailed off as she struggled to find a suitable answer. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell the woman, how much she _should_ tell, and had no idea what kind of place it was she’d ended up in. One wrong turn in the Enchanted Forest and there were plenty of people that would steal a woman away for foul reasons.

“Regina,” the woman cut her off before she could make an even bigger fool out of herself. She stepped a little closer and thankfully the light no longer cast such terrifying shadows on the woman’s face and beneath her stunning eyes. Stunning but intimidating. “It’s not safe for a young girl to be out at night. Alone. Here of all places. Wherever it is you’re going, be careful getting there.”

She nodded, the motion jerky and awkward as her eyes widened just that little bit further. She was about to curtsey and attempt to flee again, but the woman spoke before she could do more than lift her dress and start to bend at the waist.

“It would be a shame if anything happened to you.”

Regina furrowed her brow. “Why would it be a shame? You don’t even know me.”

The woman’s lips curled into a smirk and Regina immediately felt her skin prickle with thousands of goosebumps as they sprung up all over her body. “A piece of advice: don’t underestimate this place. There are things here.”

“Things,” she asked, and her voice hitched with worry.

“Things that go bump in the night,” the woman said. Then the woman tried her luck at escaping their conversation, but she still hadn’t answered Regina’s question. She’d only sparked more in the younger woman’s terrified but curious mind so Regina reversed their roles and tried to stop her.

“Wait,” she called out and grabbed at her dress. She lifted it and scrambled a few steps closer to the other woman. Regina only stopped when the blonde turned to her again and then tried to keep a relatively safe distance between them.

The woman licked her lips as her eyes scanned over Regina from her feet up to her eyes. There was something about the look in those blue eyes—something predatory—that told Regina to run as much as it told her to stay. Her curiosity would probably be the end of her, she thought.

“What’s your name,” Regina asked after she took a moment to collect herself and sound more confident than she felt.

The woman didn’t answer her. Instead, intense blue eyes remained locked on her for a long moment and Regina nearly squirmed under the scrutiny before she remembered showing weakness in front of strangers wasn’t a good idea at all.

“In case I might need to find you,” Regina explained. “If there are things that…go bump in the night as you say, shouldn’t I at least know your name if I run into any trouble?”

Sinful lips curled into another grin, that one much wider than the first Regina had witnessed, before the blonde laughed. The sound was as offsetting as it was melodic. At first, Regina smiled because the other woman was clearly amused. After a few seconds, however, she frowned. As amused as the blonde was, it was at Regina expense. It had been a serious question and yet, the stranger was laughing at her.

“What’s so funny,” she asked. She instantly hated herself for sounding like a pouting child.

Gradually, the woman’s laughter died down and her eyes settled on Regina again. Only when they each had each other’s full attention did the woman reply, “The name’s Pam and no one looks for me. You need me, sugar, and I’ll find you.”

Regina started to smile again, her face lit up with the renewed hope she felt. But Pam wasn’t finished.

She chuckled and shook her head in response to Regina’s relief. “Be real careful around here, Regina. You never know who you can trust.”

Regina wanted to say something, wanted to ask what that meant or if there was something else she should know, but Pam only seemed to give cryptic answers. She tilted her head to the side and looked over the blonde from head to toe and back again with pursed lips and a quizzical expression. She thought for sure she’d watch Pam leave since the woman was determined to keep her wondering about where, when, what, and why to every question and answer exchanged, but the blonde surprised her again. Instead of disappearing, Pam smirked and swept across the small stretch of road between them until there was hardly any space for them to breathe.

“I like you,” Pam said as she slowly brought a hand up to Regina’s face. She ran the backs of her fingers over a warm, olive-toned cheek and Regina trembled beneath her touch. Her smirk spread and became more salacious the longer she stared at the brunette. “Don’t you worry, Regina. I’ll take care of you.”

Pam pulled her hand away from Regina just as the blonde swiftly stepped back and gave Regina room to inhale again. Finally, Pam left her on her own again and Regina wasn’t sure if she was better off that way or not. She still had no idea where she was or how to get home and for the life of her she just couldn’t figure out if Pam was a friend or foe. She took a deep breath and tried to focus. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and tried to summon her magic to the surface, but when she held out an open palm to conjure a fireball no flames arose. She could feel her magic as it flowed within her veins, but there was something that trapped it all inside. It was like there was a dam somewhere in her body that kept her magic at bay and as she tried again and again with more force each time to bring her magic to the surface, the dam held steady and prevented every attempt.

She dropped her hand to her side and surveyed her surroundings again. Aside from the lights overhead, the area was dark. The sun had long ago set and the moon was only a crescent hidden by clouds as they took their time passing through the night sky. As she started to realize how much danger she could potentially be in and how very, _very_ far from home she could be, she made her first wish in several years and hoped it would be heard. She wished for a way home.


	2. Chapter 2

She wasn’t sure how long she’d wandered around in search for somewhere to stay, but it was nearly dawn by the time she found something called a hotel. While she hadn’t spoken the word out loud, she scrunched up her face in dislike for whatever a “hotel” was. No matter how much the word didn’t sit right with her, it didn’t keep her from looking through the glass door and seeing a desk unkindly lit by fluorescent lights, which she didn’t understand anything about including the name for them.

The “hotel” didn’t look too bad on the outside, but the green glow inside didn’t do it any favors. Regina had nowhere else to go, but she certainly didn’t want to stay in such a seedy, unsavory place. It wasn’t fitting for her, not as a Queen or as any kind of royalty or even just as an unguarded woman. However, her options were limited and while the sun was slowly starting to crest over the horizon she was tired and alone and needed shelter and there was no telling what horrors daybreak would bring.

She reluctantly grabbed the handle and tugged only seconds before a less than appealing smell reached her. It was like everything had been drenched in mead and sweat. She covered her mouth and nose with a hand and cautiously made her way inside. As she approached the unattended desk, she glanced around the room and saw a sitting area between the desk and door and closed steel doors a little further down a tiled hallway. She was more confused and out of place than she’d ever been and the thought that she might not ever find her way back to the Enchanted Forest was suddenly very unsettling.

She reached the desk, which was just a high counter with a chair behind it, and saw a silver contraption with a purpose she didn’t understand and was itching to figure out. It was round with a smaller button-like object on top and a softer, black base beneath it. She timidly pressed down on it and a quiet _ding!_ sounded from it.

“Oh. A bell,” she said a little excitedly and started to smile. She’d never seen a bell so small, but she knew what they were and what they did. She was familiar with them. It was the first thing she understood in the complicated land despite that particular bell’s differences from the ones in the Enchanted Forest. But because she was familiar with it, she used it with much less caution the second time and slapped her hand down on it. She was pleased to hear the sound the bell produced was much louder that time.

Regina waited and looked around for anyone to come to her aid, but there was no response. She frowned and waited just a little bit longer before she hit the bell again with the same amount of force as the last time. She waited again, but there still wasn’t a hint of life around her. Some of the lights started to flicker and the flashes of complete darkness set Regina on edge. She turned to leave, but after only a few steps toward the door she saw something move in the shadowy distance outside. For a moment, she held her breath and listened to her blood pump loudly in her ears.

Pam was long gone, she was sure. The woman hadn’t seemed keen on sticking around and had walked in the opposite direction Regina had taken to get to the so far frightening hotel. She didn’t know anything about the land or the people or the…things that go bump in the night and although that information might be extremely helpful, she didn’t want to know anything about any of that. Not that night. She just wanted to stay safe and inside and make it through the rest of the night in the disturbing village.

She looked to her left and spotted the sitting area again. There was a couch, a couple of chairs and a wooden table that was pressed up against the front wall of the hotel just beyond the furniture. There was a window above the table, but it was shielded by dusty, yellowed slats made with a material unknown to her.  There was no light around the couch or chairs. It was only lit by the flickering lights in the hall between the desk and steel double doors that had to lead somewhere, but Regina couldn’t even fathom what was beyond them.

With a thick gulp, Regina looked around the room and then chanced another look outside. All was quiet and still again. She tried to relax, but her body was rigid and she was on high alert. Everything about the land was wrong. Something about where she’d ended up was off. She still felt her own magic and the air around her was tainted with other magic, but the magic in that land was different. Hers was elemental. The magic around her, in the air and all throughout the village was older and far darker. Maybe not darker than stealing hearts as her mother had done, but if it wasn’t darker than that it was at the very least just as sinister.

Uncertain in her decision but without any other solution, Regina sat down on the couch and slowly began to lay down. She only needed to rest. The sun would come up and she’d have to move on if she intended to survive whatever hell she was in, but for the next few hours she just needed to recuperate. Her magic had drained her, especially since it had never been her plan to transport herself to another realm. She hadn’t known she was capable of that, but as her eyes began to close in the dimly lit hotel she hated for various reasons she was certain she was as powerful as Rumpel said she would be one day.

* * *

Unaware of anything beyond her closed eyelids, she felt something nagging at her. Her first instinct was that it was her internal discomfort, but it was a persistent feeling and it didn’t seem isolated only to her mind. There was a pressure on her arm. It was there one second and gone the next. She groaned and furrowed her brow. At that point, she was sure it was only Snow White. The girl tended to slip into her bedchambers early in the morning and pestered her until she was able to drag Regina out of bed to play the doting step-mother to Snow’s every whim.

“Not today, Snow,” she grumbled and swatted at the hand that dared touch her while she slept.

“Of course there’s no snow here. It’s Louisiana,” Regina heard in response.

She gasped and popped her eyes open in an instant. She sat up and instinctively pushed away whoever was in front of her to keep her distance from them before she stared up at a man with dark skin. There was nothing problematic about the way he looked at her, just that he was looking at her at all. She didn’t know him and even though she was Queen, she doubted he knew her. That doubt intensified when she looked around and remembered she wasn’t Queen. Not where she was. Not in… Louisiana?

“Where are we,” she asked the man. She might not have liked how close he was to her, but he seemed to have answers that he wouldn’t deny her as long as she asked.

“Louisiana,” he repeated, and she recognized the accent. Not from anywhere in the Enchanted Forest, but from the previous night. Pam spoke with a very similar accent, but there were a few slight differences in tone and inflection. Maybe it was like accents in the Enchanted Forest. Maybe they differed depending on the region in which a person was from.

“What is Louisiana,” she asked and hoped he wouldn’t laugh at her like Pam had for simply asking the blonde’s name.

The man didn’t laugh, but he looked as confused as she was. He cocked his head to the side and stared at her with a puzzled expression for a long moment before he straightened up. He shook his head and started to walk away from her as he said, “You’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.”

Regina inhaled sharply as she prepared a reply, but she wasn’t sure how to respond and all the words she thought she wanted to say died on her lips.

A quick look around the room and she noticed there were other people inside. A few hung around the desk while a man stood by some kind of cart by himself. There was a ding that drew her eyes to the bell she remembered from the night before, but no one had touched the one on the desk. She started to wonder where the other bell was when she heard a questionable sound, low and deep like a heavy barrel being dragged across the ground. She looked down the hallway beside the desk and watched the steel doors part before a group of people came into view. They all appeared to arrive from the same place behind wherever the doors led.

Regina stood up and carefully made her way toward the desk as the people in front of it started to clear out. Her focus remained locked on the steel doors in the hopes that she would find out where they went, but the doors started to close shortly after the last person made their exit. It just looked like another hallway from what she could tell yet as soon as the doors closed, a light blinked on above them. It was a number lit up in red on a digital readout, all of which Regina didn’t know. To her it looked as foreign as Elvish had when she’d opened her mother’s spell book for the first time. The number changed every couple of seconds and each time it changed, there was a beep. Before she could stop herself, she bumped into the desk and let out a quiet “oomph” before she heard the man from only moments ago speak again.

“Is there something I can help you with,” he asked.

She looked from the doors to the man and took a few seconds to get her thoughts in order. She didn’t come up with an answer fast enough for him, it seemed, because he sighed and ran a hand over his face from forehead to chin before he asked another question.

“Are you lookin’ for a place to stay?”

Her eyes widened a little, surprised that he seemed to understand her even though she’d barely said a word. “Y-yes,” she answered.

“Well, this is a hotel so you came to the right place,” he said. “How long will you need a room?”

“I, um…” she started to fidget and looked down at the counter and then her dress, which was vastly different from everyone else’s attire, including Pam’s. “I don’t know.”

The man pursed his lips and took a loud and deep breath through his nose before he said, “I can give you a room for a few nights. Maybe a week at most if I don’t get a lot of new customers. How are you paying?”

“I…I have some silver.”

“Silver? What the hell good is silver?” She recognized his tone and the displeased look on his face. It might have been a different world she’d stumbled into, but the people weren’t entirely different from those she knew in the Enchanted Forest. He’d reached the end of his patience and she was sure she’d lost any chance of staying. “You need to go. Find some other hotel that’ll take silver. Or come back when you have real money. Cash, credit. I’ll even take _gold_ if you can’t manage the other two, but not silver.”

She stuttered incoherent sounds for a moment and watched as he busied himself with papers and other things that were at his fingertips. She knew when she was being ignored, but she was still so lost so she struggled to make her legs take her away from the hotel for a moment. She just wanted to go back to her awful life as the King’s wife and Snow’s babysitter. It was her fault for thinking the fairies would grant her wish. They never had before. Why would they come to her rescue in her time of need now? She frowned and held back her tears as she turned and trudged out of the hotel. She hadn’t learned anything more than the fact that she was in a place called Louisiana and she couldn’t pay with silver. She was tired, confused, and as she walked back onto the street she realized she was incredibly hungry with no clue where she could eat.


	3. Chapter 3

Tired, hungry, lost, and stuck in a dress she used to love but in that moment only hated because it weighed her down, Regina wandered around the place for the better part of day. She watched the people move around, interact, and watched them exchange green paper for goods. It wasn’t the strangest thing she’d seen in Louisiana, but it certainly wasn’t how things were done in the Enchanted Forest. It was payment, she understood, and they had that in the Enchanted Forest, but they didn’t use paper. It was a forest after all. They needed the trees for basic living, to keep their game alive before they slaughtered and ate them at the very least.

That appeared to be how everyone paid in Louisiana, though if they didn’t use some sort of small card made out of a semi-sturdy yet somehow still slightly flexible material. Since she didn’t have that she figured she couldn’t even get half a loaf of bread, but she was starving. The last thing she ate hadn’t been a very satisfying meal nor portion and she wasn’t sure how long she would be in Louisiana so she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d have to suffer without sustenance. It was worrisome, but she kept going. She walked, slower and slower the longer she remained outside in the less than pleasing sun, until she came across a disheartening area.

A group of aimless and dirty people—peasants, her mind instantly supplied—wandered through the streets. All of them smelled of a similar and disgusting odor and their steps were uneven as they stumbled forward on their way to wherever it was they were headed. But as she’d noticed at first glance, they were aimless so they weren’t wandering anywhere in particular. They just…shuffled around the corner of one building or another but didn’t stray too far from the nearby area. A lot of them seemed to emerge from the same building, however. The scents that drifted out of it were appetizing and thankfully helped mask the stench of the unfortunate bunch before her. She looked first at the door as a leather skinned, gray haired man walked out and then looked up at the sign above the entrance.

“Soup kitchen” she slowly read out loud and furrowed her brow as she considered what a soup kitchen was and why only a particular kind of people were inside. She looked around her at the few people still in view and then looked over her shoulder. She was uncertain, as usual in the strange land of Louisiana, but she continued to have limited options so she faced forward again and carefully made her way inside.

There was a bit of a bustle on the other side of the door. There were several tables like there would be inside a tavern, but there were also more people with unpleasant smells. At the far end of the room there was a different kind of table. It was a serving table by the looks of it and two women and a man stood behind it with ladles in hand. A line of silver pots sat on top of the table and each of the three people with ladles handed out bowlfuls of whatever was in the pots. Soup, she supposed, because the sign claimed that was the main dish for that specific kitchen. Why they only made soup, Regina would probably never know.

She glanced around again, always curious, and a moment later someone finally seemed to notice her.

“Can I help you with something, Miss,” one of the women from behind the table asked as she served another scruffy patron and then hooked the handle of the ladle on the edge of the pot. The woman had light brown hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, wisps of hair free around her cheeks and forehead, and she seemed intent to get answers out of Regina considering how she made her way out from behind the table and approached her.

“Wha- What…is this place,” she shyly asked, her eyes wide again as she spared another glance around the room. She wrung her hands in front of her stomach while she thought through what to say and what to do. Pam said it was hard to know who to trust. If she spilled too much about herself and her situation, things could get a lot worse for her no matter if there was magic in Louisiana or not.

“It’s a soup kitchen,” the woman replied and wiped her hands on her stained white apron.

“I read the sign,” Regina said with a slight nod and flash of a smile. “But…where I’m from…I’m not used to places like this so if you could…explain it to me?”

The woman looked her over from head to toe and Regina watched some kind of recognition strike the other woman. “Right. Dressed to the nines you probably wouldn’t know much about soup kitchens. If don’t need anything I suggest you move on.”

“But I- I’m hungry and I…I don’t have any…” she trailed off as she tried to recall what the man at the hotel had called it. “Cash.”

“With an outfit like that one, you’ve gotta have a credit card though.”

Regina frowned and furrowed her brow. The woman suddenly didn’t seem so sure of her assumptions anymore.

“You’re not from around here,” the woman asked as she made another attempt at conversation.

Regina could only shake her head.

“Uh, so you’re in town visiting?”

Town. Was that what Louisiana was? Did people in Louisiana call different lands _towns_? She nodded in the hopes that she understood well enough what the woman was saying. She seemed to do just fine because the woman relaxed a little and almost smiled before she continued to talk with her.

“And you don’t have any money on you? No cash, no card. Nothing?”

“No.”

“You got a place to stay around here? Family nearby?”

“No. I don’t…I don’t know anyone here.” She probably shouldn’t have admitted that, but the woman seemed genuinely interested in her troubles and she didn’t cause any discomfort within Regina the man at the hotel had.

Those words seemed to make the woman sad. Maybe she even pitied Regina. The other woman’s eyes were wide as well, but they weren’t questioning. The look in her amber colored eyes made the woman appear almost heartbroken. It was stranger than most things Regina had encountered in the off-putting town.

“Um, okay. Soup kitchens,” the woman said and had to clear her throat before she spoke because her voice was a little soft and cracked. She sounded a little emotional, but Regina wasn’t entirely sure that was the right word to describe what was happening. Between that woman and Pam, the people in Louisiana were apparently easily concerned about others. Or at least the women were easily concerned about other women, especially other women that weren’t from that town. “People who come to soup kitchens are usually homeless. Since you don’t have anywhere to stay here, I guess that makes you homeless- Sorry! Probably shouldn’t have said it like that.”

The woman continued to explain how soup kitchens worked and led her toward the serving table, but Regina couldn’t move past the other woman’s words. _Homeless._ She’d never been homeless before. No matter what she’d done to piss off her mother or Rumpelstiltskin, she always had a place to eat, sleep, and most of the time call her own. Whatever world Louisiana was in, wherever the town actually existed, Regina was a bandit there.

She held out an empty bowl to the woman as she was served warm…brisket? It was some kind of meat with a lot of sauce on it. She’d seen similar meals in her time, but none of them had been called brisket. She was told she could sit anywhere and enjoy the food until they closed and the woman that had been so helpful to her offered her information about a women’s shelter not too far away. Before Regina knew it, the sun had started to set and it was time for her to move along.

“Be real mindful of the area,” the woman at the kitchen warned as she closed up on their way out. “There’s a lot of bad people out there that will and _want_ to do a lot of bad things. Mostly they do it for fun, but others? They do it because they’re sick.”

“Sick? As in ill? Are they contagious?”

“Sick as in wrong in the head. They’re twisted. It’s how they’re wired. Or how they’re _re_ wired,” the woman warned, and Regina was still a little confused but she got the gist: watch out for bad people. “The shelter is two blocks up that way.”

Regina looked in the direction the woman pointed. She understood through context clues that blocks seemed to be the town’s way of measuring distance, but she wasn’t sure what amount of distance one block was let alone two. She nodded anyway, thankful for all the answers she’d gleaned from the woman despite some of her lingering confusion, and by dusk she was alone again.

She held what the woman at the soup kitchen had called a pamphlet and it had the name and location and “mission statement” of the women’s shelter in it, but it didn’t do her much good when she had no idea how to get two blocks down from the soup kitchen. She’d walked off in the direction the woman had pointed her in, but after crossing one of the roads and passing a large building she wasn’t sure if she’d understood enough about where the woman had tried to guide her. Because she didn’t see anything that called a shelter.

She was still tired, but at least she’d been fed. One less problem to deal with, she supposed. One less thing to distract her from figuring out where to go and what to do next.

She heard glass break somewhere behind her followed by some scuffling and few other sounds. It seemed when one distraction disappeared, another sprang up out of nowhere. A moment passed before she heard heavy breathing and a groan, drawn out and guttural. Practically animalistic. She spun around with a wildly beating heart and fear in her eyes as she scoped out the dark road in an attempt to locate the possible danger. She didn’t have to wait long.

A pale skinned man with a savage glint in his eyes hurried toward her with a broad grin and pearly white, sharp, _sharp_ teeth. Two of them were _pointed_. It was unlike anything she’d seen in the Enchanted Forest, although the pictures of dragons and ogres were definitely something to shy away from like whatever it was she stared at in that moment. Her breathing sped up to match the beat of her heart and she scurried several steps back. She kept her eyes on the not-quite-human _thing_ as he continued toward her, but it was hard to run backward. She couldn’t see where she was going and she didn’t know her way around so it made sense that she tripped over something on the ground underfoot and thudded against something hard.

She looked behind her and realized she’d run herself into a wall with only two ways to escape the menace before her: left or right. In a flash, the stranger was in her face with bared teeth and a growl ripped from his throat. She gasped and wondered if she was going to die because he had her pinned. He was too close to her. He gave her no room to squirm free. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped that someone would help her, that maybe the fairies or whatever higher magical power in Louisiana would take pity on her. She really didn’t want to die alone in a new and confusing world. She had a whole revenge plot against Snow White and magic to continue learning and a father she wished had been stronger but whom she loved more than anyone else. She wasn’t finished yet. She wasn’t ready to die.

There was a cry and a _squelch_ and Regina jumped. Her eyes popped open just in time to watch the man slump forward and slide down onto the pavement in front of her. He was limp. Nothing but dead weight as blood pooled out beneath him. He was—

“Dead,” she breathed out with wide and slightly wet eyes, her attention stuck on her would-be killer if it wasn’t for… Who, or _what_ , had saved her? Regina looked up and finally noticed there was someone else there, and _she_ had an amused smirk spread across her face.

“I told you to be careful, honey.” The blonde’s smirk didn’t fade. Blue eyes remained fixated on Regina and the two of them just stood over the dead and bloody corpse.

“Pam,” Regina said with a hint of relief, but it took her a while to get over the shock of her near-death experience and the fact that the woman had found soon enough to save her. “I was wondering if I’d see you again.”

She let out an air of laughter, not quite a chuckle, and said, “I just couldn’t stay away.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pam's usually much more direct and uncaring, especially about humans, but I promise there's a reason for parts of my characterization for her in this crossover. :)

"How did you find me," was Regina's first question, but again it took her another few long seconds before she could form coherent words.

"I was around," Pam answered, her voice low and almost disinterested in the subject. "What the hell are you doing in a place like this?"

Regina frowned and shook her head.  It was a bit appalling for someone of her station—although she didn't have one in that land, or at least not a very high one—but it was the only place in town she seemed to belong. "I-I didn't have anywhere else to go."

Pam looked over her for a moment and Regina watched her eyes swoop down and then up before they finally settled on her hands. "What's that?"

She looked down and nervously crinkled the pamphlet between her hands in front of her torso. "This woman informed me of where I could stay while I'm here."

"Give it here," Pam said with a tone that left no room for argument while she took a couple of swift steps toward her, hand outstretched.

Regina passed the pamphlet on to the blonde and gulped as she awaited the woman's reaction to such a place.

Pam scoffed and carelessly flung the pamphlet onto the ground. Regina was hurt by the action. That pamphlet contained the first helpful bit of information she'd gathered since her arrival. And the paper alone gave her hope that she wouldn't have to fend for herself on the streets like the group of homeless people she saw in the soup kitchen. She stared up at Pam with wide, innocent, scared eyes and wanted nothing more than to be led to the women's shelter so she could find a place to sit if nothing else. Her feet ached and dried sweat made her skin sticky at the base of her neck and the small of her back. She wanted to rest her body and take a bath to rid herself of the grime that covered her body. The shelter sounded like a decent place to at least do one of those things.

"Stop lookin' at me like that," Pam insisted, but her voice was only firm. She didn't yell and she didn't step any closer. She was commanding but not as harshly as her mother. "You're not stayin' there."

"But...where will I go?"

"I've got a place. You can stay with me."

"You...you would do that? We've met twice in only two nights and all we know are each other's names. Why would you invite me to stay with you?"

"You want to ask questions or you want to go someplace you can relax?"

Regina nervously licked her lips and briefly averted her eyes as she quickly thought over her options. "No more questions," she replied, which caused Pam to grin.

"Good. Come on." The blonde turned and started to walk away so Regina, desperate not to get lost yet again in the strange land, hurried after her. She was intent to keep up with the older woman despite how wandering off with someone who offered her no real answers could be as much trouble as the man that had tried to attack her not long ago.

They rounded a corner and Regina's incessant curiosity couldn't let go of what had happened. "You saved me."

"You must be blind or somethin' if you didn't realize that 'til just now," Pam said and kept her eyes focused on the road ahead.

" _Why_ did you save me?"

Pam sighed, but didn't slow down. "I thought there weren't gonna be any more questions."

"I'm sorry."

Pam turned to look at her as they continued to walk through the dark, hardly lit streets. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty years old," she stated a little awkwardly, like she wasn't sure if that was the answer Pam wanted or if she should have told the other woman at all. "Why?"

"You're just a baby," Pam said, more to herself than in response to Regina's question.

"No, I'm not. I'm married," she raised her voice as she spoke of her attachment— _unwanted_ attachment—to the King.

Pam's eyebrows shot up for a moment and she slowed her pace as she took the time to look her over again, more thoroughly that time as if to assess the probability that Regina actually was wed. The blonde's lips curled up in a sneer. Apparently she didn't like the thought of Regina belonging to someone. Regina quite frankly didn't like that thought either, not when she was trapped in a loveless marriage to a man old enough to be her father.

"Then why are you here and not with your husband," Pam finally decided to ask before she picked up her pace and carried on to wherever she was taking Regina.

"I... We were separated. We went on a walk and I went one way while he wandered off another way," she lied.

"If he knew what was best for you, he would have kept a closer eye out for you here," Pam noted.

"He doesn't even _care_ what's best for me," Regina sadly confessed.

"Some husband," Pam dryly commented.

"It's not much of a marriage. I attend to his daughter and...to his needs. That is my place."

Pam abruptly stopped and spun around in an instant to face her completely. "You have no reason to think that way. He may be your husband, but he doesn't own you. You aren't property, honey. You aren't bound to him."

"But I am. We are married."

"It is a verbal and legal agreement with a ring to prove to others that you're committed. It's all material. It means _nothing_." There was a fire in ocean blue eyes in that moment and Regina was intrigued, but she remained silently inquisitive because that same fire in Pam's eyes also intimidated her. "To be truly bound, there's a ritual. There's a connection that far surpasses any words, a connection that takes a great amount of effort to sever. It's unlike anything most people have ever experienced and if that bond _isn't_ severed, it lasts lifetimes."

"Life _times_ ," Regina asked.

Pam huffed and rolled her eyes before she closed most of the remaining space between them. "You aren't bound to or restricted by your husband. He isn't here. Whatever you're used to with him? Whatever deal you two have is null and void."

Regina blinked several times and took a step back, shocked to hear such a thing. Ridding herself of the misery being with him caused wasn't as simple as someone telling her the marriage didn't matter, was it?

"If you ever find him, you can go back to whatever kind of shitty life you have with him, but when you're with me you make sure to remember _no one_ owns you."

Regina gasped and nodded like an obedient child.

"Now shut that mouth of yours and hurry up. I don't wanna kill anyone else in order to protect you tonight."

* * *

Regina had been to many balls, all full of drinks and laughter and music, but none of them looked or sounded like the place Pam led her toward. There was a neon sign in the window that thoroughly confused Regina because it was light, but it wasn’t created by fire. There were no candles or lanterns and instead of oranges and golden hues, the color of the sign—of the light inside it—was pink. She stopped a few steps from the front entrance and gaped at it. She was so captivated by the light, she didn’t have the ability to process the strange name.

“Welcome to Fangtasia, honey,” Pam said as she waited at the door and didn’t open it while she stared at Regina.

“Fang…tasia,” Regina slowly asked and kept her gaze focused on the sign for another long moment before she turned and looked at the blonde. “What…what does that mean?”

Pam breathed out a quick burst of laughter and took a step away from the door, toward Regina. “It’s just a name. It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“Surely that one does.”

Pam shrugged and replied, “It does and it doesn’t. The fang part means somethin’, at least. The –tasia part? Well, that’s just a fun play on words.”

Not only did the name fail to make any sense to Regina, but the phrase Pam had used—“play on words”—didn’t ease her confused mind one bit.

“I warned you there are things that go bump in the night,” the taller woman added, to which Regina nodded in response. “This is where they show themselves and have a good time.”

She liked to think she was brave. She’d stood up to her mother enough times and even questioned Rumpelstiltskin on occasion so it should have been the truth, but she was just defiant. Defiance wasn’t bravery, or strength. It just gave her a moment, a single moment in which she felt like she finally had some control. In the end, her mother always knew how to rein her in and Rumpelstiltskin wasn’t any different. No, she wasn’t brave, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to willingly walk into a pace that crawled with bad things.

Regina backed away and shook her head, her eyes wide and filled with the sting of betrayal. “Why would you bring me here?”

Pam grinned and slowly strutted toward her. Every step back Regina took, Pam took one step forward. Her body swayed hypnotically as she sauntered toward Regina. For the first time since they met a mere twenty-four hours ago, Regina was not at all drawn to Pam and instead wanted to flee. She swallowed the thick lump in her throat that grew in size and weight with each step the blonde took toward her. Had Pam only saved her just to kill her, or have her killed, herself?

“Regina,” Pam said her name slowly and with a velvety voice. It made Regina a little weak in the knees. “When you’re in my company, no one here will hurt you. But I should probably warn you…I’m not like you.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“This is my place. I’m one of _them_ , the bad things you should be real careful about.”

Regina was closer to the street than she was Fangtasia by that point and just as she was about to turn and run, there was a blur of motion and Pam stood closely in front of her with a hand gripped around her arm.

“Normally, I’d have already had my fun with a human like you,” Pam purred, “but I sense somethin’ about you, somethin’ different. You have my word you won’t harmed, by me or any’uh the others.”

“If you expect me to trust you, laying your hands on me isn’t the best way to convince me your word means something.”

Pam slid her tongue over her teeth and then licked her lips as her eyes freely roamed over every inch of Regina’s body. “Just be glad my hands are the only things on you right now.”

A shiver ran down Regina’s spine as the hidden meaning in Pam’s words struck a chord in her. She truly wished the older woman didn’t have that effect on her, especially given the trouble she only barely knew Pam to be then, but her body reacted before her brain could fully and successfully object.

“You need somewhere to stay and I’m offerin’. You have my protection here and there’s food, runnin’ water, and a largely accommodating bed. You comin’ in or takin’ your chances out here?”

The door to Fangtasia burst open then as someone walked out and the music from inside swelled in the fleeting moment when there was no barrier between them and the building.

Regina deeply inhaled through her nose and looked from Pam to the closing door. Her eyes settled on Pam’s again as she reached a decision that threatened to possibly destroy her very being. She wordlessly grabbed Pam’s hand, kept her eyes locked on the blonde’s intense gaze as she did, and removed it from her arm before she stepped toward the other woman. Her shoulder brushed Pam’s side and the blonde smirked as she fluidly fell into step beside Regina. Together, they walked right into the epicenter of dark deeds.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Very brief mentions of martial rape. Also, I have no idea where Pam lives so I got a little creative. I'll explain my choice of residence for her later. Enjoy!

Inside Fangtasia might have been more overwhelming than the entirety of Louisiana. The music was a far cry from what Regina had heard at balls and while the music that played in the club wasn't terribly loud, it was still a bit of a sensory overload. The bass thumped through black rectangles both small and large where they were set up in front of a main platform as well as high in corners around the room. The large rectangles were on ground level and the smaller ones were nestled in the various corners. And that was just the beginning.

All around her, women danced. Pale skin, dark skin, and every shade in between lined the stages within the club. Much of their skin was on display in skimpy, stringy outfits and each of them moved in their own unique ways, but essentially they were all gyrating in time to the music. She sucked in a deep breath and felt herself tense as she scanned the room. There were small groups of people gathered around each of the women on leather furniture and their eyes were trained on everything but the women's faces in every single group.

"Pam," a voice filtered through Regina's thoughts. She turned away from the depraved activities and faced the man who seemed to know the woman beside her. He grinned as he approached the blonde and his eyes darted over to take in Regina from head to toe before he looked at Pam again. Regina didn't like his lecherous stare, though she could see how his charm and good looks might attract women. Women like Pam it seemed.

The blonde smirked back at the man as he stopped in front of her and then looked over in Regina's direction again.

"Who do you have here," he asked, his tone filled with clear excitement.

Regina's skin crawled. He was definitely more attractive than Leopold, but that voice made her stomach churn the same way it had when the King had proposed to her and then again only seconds later when her mother accepted the proposal on her behalf. She thought that meant the man in front of her and Pam was interested in her or something he believed she could offer him.

"Eric," Pam replied with her slow like molasses but gritty like boots crunching on snowfall voice. "She's a friend."

"A friend? I wasn't aware you had any," Eric said before his eyes slid from Pam to Regina before he outright ogled her. Regina tried not to shiver in front of him, afraid to show any weakness just as she was afraid in her husband's company. "Pets, maybe. But friends?"

He glided toward her and Regina's eyes widened in fear. So many things went through her mind in that moment and the first thought she had was the painful memory of her wedding night. The brute force of the King as he writhed on top of her while a few others watched to ensure the marriage was consummated. Eric looked at her as though he was going to defile her in a similar way if not a worse one and she instinctively took a step back as she looked worriedly at Pam.

Pam slid in front of her in an instant. If Regina had blinked she might have missed the movement altogether. The blonde spread an arm out in front of Regina despite her entire body already blocking Eric from coming any closer. It was unnecessary, but Regina appreciated the extra effort to keep much needed distance between her and the blonde man with piercing eyes that promised things Regina didn't want.

"Back off," Pam warned, and it sent a pleasurable shiver down Regina's spine to hear that from the other woman. "She's not a gift for you. She's off limits."

Eric chuckled and looked between Pam and Regina again. “Alright. Hands off. I got it,” he said with an overly charming smile directed at Pam. It made Regina shudder.

Eric gave her one last look and his eyes swept over her again, slowly and with obvious sexual intent. Before he turned and left, Regina instinctively reached out to Pam and latched onto her forearm. She watched Eric walk away and tightened her grip on Pam as she held her breath until he’d finally disappeared from sight.

“Sugar, you’re gonna have to let go,” Pam said with a much friendlier and smoother voice. “I can’t show you around if you’re clinging to me like this.”

“Sorry,” she softly apologized and let go. “I don’t like him. I don’t like the way he looks at me.”

“As long as you’re with me, you won’t have to worry about him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Now come on,” Pam insisted. “We should talk.”

Regina let the blonde lead her to the back of the club and downstairs into the basement, which actually was more like a single floor apartment. There were two rooms and another set of stairs that led further into the basement. It was an odd sight and Regina furrowed her brow in confusion. Pam smirked over her shoulder at her and unlocked one of the two doors.

“Down there’s the dungeon,” Pam informed her. “It’s got a lot of uses. Eric sometimes likes to take his playthings down there so I’d stick to this floor or the club if I were you.”

Regina’s eyes widened and even though Pam had her back to her, she still nodded her understanding. She followed Pam inside and took a look around at white walls with ornate patterns painted across them in black. There was a kitchen to the left, a room off to the right behind the kitchen table and a hallway past the kitchen that Pam explained led to the bathroom, linen closet, and a second bedroom she hadn’t needed.

“Until now,” Pam explained. “The hallway has a sliding door in the frame that you can close and lock. You might want to do that when you sleep. I’m the only one with a key to this place, but a lot of the people upstairs have incredible strength and when they get rowdy there’s no telling what trouble they’ll get up to.”

Regina nodded again.

“Since I run the club with Eric, I sleep during the day,” Pam continued. “So I’ll be upstairs if you need anything or if anyone ever does give you trouble. You got it?”

She nodded again.

“Now I don’t want you to bother me if I’m sleepin’, but I suppose if it’s an emergency you can burst on in and disturb me,” Pam added.

“Okay,” she breathily replied.

“So now we talk,” Pam instructed and motioned to the kitchen table.

Regina twisted her hands together in front of herself for a moment before she took a seat. She eased herself onto the dark, wooden chair and watched a few seconds later as Pam gracelessly fell onto the chair next to her.

“I want to know your story. Not many people dress like you, especially not here,” Pam said. “And you don’t seem to know a whole lot about Bon Temps.”

“Bon Temps?”

“That’s the city we’re in.”

“City?”

Pam sighed and rolled her eyes. She pressed a wrist into the edge of the kitchen table and extended her index finger. A moment later she slowly traced circles on the tabletop, precise but lazy movements.  “And you don’t even know what a city is. Where the hell are you from?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Honey, I’ve done and seen a lot of things in my time. I doubt you can surprise me.”

“I… I’ve never seen a village- a city like this. I don’t even know how I got here. I mean, I know what I was doing at the time before I just…showed up here, but I still haven’t figured out the mechanics of it.”

“You’re rambling,” Pam said. “I just want to know where you’re from.”

“I still don’t think you’ll believe me. And…and even if you did, you probably won’t want anything to do with me anymore,” Regina sadly said and looked down at her hands where they sat in her lap.

Pam took a deep breath and stopped her finger on the table. A moment later, she turned further toward Regina and reached out to her. She placed her hands on Regina’s arms and slid them down to unclasp Regina’s hands from each other before she took them into her own.

“Just tell me the truth,” Pam said. “I have a feeling about you and I want to know if I’m right. I’m not gonna turn you away no matter what your answer is.”

It was strange to see Pam act so kind. She barely knew the women and she did know that Pam was nice to her, but it felt a little _too_ nice for someone as bold and seemingly straightforward as the tall blonde.

“I…I’m from…a land called…the Enchanted Forest,” she slowly replied.

Pam snickered and looked down at Regina’s lap for a reason unknown to Regina before she locked eyes with her again. “You really are making this harder for me, honey.”

“Making what harder,” Regina asked with a scrunched up face, confusion apparent in her eyes.

Pam shook her head with a wide smile and said, “Nothing. Okay, so you’re from the Enchanted Forest. That’s nowhere near here, I take it.”

Regina shook her head.

“And in this Forest,” Pam continued, “is there a class system? Royalty and all that?”

Regina swallowed and then nodded.

“I figured. With a dress like that you must have some kind of title.”

“What- What do you know about titles?”

“I used to have one. I hated every second of it so I ran away and made a new life for myself. Is that what you’re doing?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Regina confessed. “At least I didn’t mean to make a new life here. I was trying to with ma- I was trying to make a new life back home, but then I found myself here.”

“This might not be the place you chose to start over, but you’re here. There are no titles here and you can live your life on your own terms.”

“So…you’re not going to throw me back out onto the street? You’re not even going to yell at me for throwing away the life I had?”

Pam laughed. “Of course not. I just told you what I did. Why would I yell at you for doing that when I did the same thing?”

“I- I’m just used to being scolded for not living up to my potential,” Regina answered.

“Well, I don’t yell. It’s terrible for the throat and it gives me a headache.”

Regina smiled and squeezed Pam’s hands. A few seconds passed before Pam seemed to realize they were still holding hands and she pulled hers away before she stood up.

“I’m sure you’re tired. I’ll show you to the room.”

“Thank you.”

“Just don’t say things like ‘enchanted forest’ anymore.”

“Why?”

“It’s funny, but it also gives me thoughts I’m sure you’d prefer I don’t have,” she replied with a grin.

She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but Regina was just happy to have a place to stay and someone that she could maybe consider a friend. Bon Temps, Louisiana was definitely not somewhere she’d picked, or even would have picked if given the choice, to start fresh, but Pam was right. She’d ended up there whether she’d wanted to or not and she was given the chance she’d wanted for so long. As hard as it was to be so far from home despite all the bad things she had to suffer there, she was going to take the chance she’d finally been given.


End file.
